Fishing reports
15593 reports across all 50 states — current conditions and what's biting.
Colorado tailwaters shake off drought as closures start lifting
Crystal Fly Shop reports that fishing closures on the Roaring Fork have been lifted, with the river running low, clear and cool and dry-fly fishing much improved over the past week; small profiles such as Rainbow Warriors, Sparklewing RS2s and Flashback PTs are producing, alongside Tricos and midges. The nearby Frying Pan is holding a similarly low, clear, cold flow with strong Green Drake, PMD, BWO and midge activity, per the same shop, while the Colorado River through Glenwood Springs to Rifle remains under a voluntary closure after monsoon rain muddied the water, though cooler temperatures are helping and a fall streamer bite is building. On the South Platte's Dream Stream, Colorado Trout Hunters calls this season's migratory brown trout run one of the best in years.
Fall transition settles over Toledo Bend and the Sabine border
The fall transition is settling over Toledo Bend and the Sabine River border this week, arriving under a Full Moon. As surface temperatures ease off summer highs, baitfish typically begin pulling toward creek mouths, timber edges, and grass lines, with reservoir gamefish following that shift in behavior. This is the stretch of the calendar anglers on this part of the LA/TX line watch closely, since the shallow push tends to concentrate fish along structure that sat quiet all summer.
Driftless streamer season kicks in for fall browns
Early fall marks the shift into streamer season on Driftless Area trout streams, and this week's Tying Tuesday roundup from MidCurrent puts a spotlight on it: Root River Rod Co's go-to pattern for the region is a pine squirrel jig streamer built to bounce the rocky, technical bottom without hanging up. Field & Stream's fall live-bait rig guide backs the timing, noting that a bottom-bouncing minnow rig on a barrel swivel is the go-to way to keep bait in the strike zone for big fall browns.
Fall Cooldown Sets Up Walleye, Smallmouth Bite at OH Reservoirs
Early fall turnover is underway on Ohio's inland reservoirs, and national reports this week point at exactly the pattern that follows: baitfish push shallow, and predators follow. Fishing the Midwest's Mike Frisch is running the 'plain rig' bottom-bouncer for the cooling-water walleye bite, and pairing a bladed swim jig with a plastic trailer on shoreline flats where bass and walleye stack up together. Field & Stream's fall rig guide backs the same shift, pointing anglers toward a weightless, rubber-banded crayfish presentation for finicky smallmouth as water temperatures drop.
Fall walleye rigs earn their keep as Boundary Waters chills
USGS readings show a sharp split across the region this week: the Boundary Waters gauge sits at 44°F while the Iron Range gauge to the south is still holding at 58°F. That gap matters for the classic fall pattern Fishing the Midwest describes: working a bottom-bouncer 'plain rig' with a nightcrawler, or switching to a bladed swim jig, as dying weeds push baitfish and walleye off the flats. A third regional gauge farther north is running a modest 65.4 cfs, a typical low fall baseflow.
Truckee browns and smallmouth key on the fall cooldown
The upper Truckee is running cold and thin heading into the last week of September. USGS gauge 10336730 near Tahoe City logged 51°F on a bare 0.05 cfs trickle, while gauge 10336610 further downstream read 56°F on 3.7 cfs, and gauge 10311000 showed 13.5 cfs with no temperature reading. That spread points to a system settling into its seasonal cool-down. Field & Stream's fall live-bait rig guide flags this exact window for brown trout, recommending a bottom-bouncing minnow rig on a barrel swivel to keep bait pinned in the strike zone as browns key on forage before winter. Wired 2 Fish notes smallmouth bass push hard on baitfish as water cools, before sliding into deeper holding water, and Tactical Bassin's early-fall jerkbait rundown backs a moving-bait approach while that feeding window stays open.
Fall transition takes hold on Texoma and Eufaula
Flow on the USGS gauge feeding the Lake Texoma watershed is steady and unremarkable this week, consistent with the stable, cooling water typical of late September on this stretch of the Red River system. With a full moon overhead and the fall transition underway, gamefish are shifting away from summer holding patterns. Wired 2 Fish's seasonal timing guide notes that as fish settle into predatory routines this time of year, the early and late hours produce the most consistent action, a pattern that carries directly into reservoirs like Texoma and Eufaula as the days shorten.
Fall turnover pushes Missouri River walleye and browns shallow
Missouri River and Black Hills water is holding at a low, steady base flow this week, per USGS gauge 06440200, the kind of settled stage anglers typically see before fall rains arrive. That stable flow lines up with the fall turnover window, when baitfish push into shallower water and predators follow. Fishing the Midwest points to dying weed edges as the place to start right now, with a bladed swim jig or a simple bottom-bouncer-and-nightcrawler plain rig drawing walleye as the bite shifts shallow. Field & Stream's fall rig guide adds that a bottom-bouncing minnow rig is the standard choice for working browns as water cools.
Steady, warm Colorado River flows keep Arizona's fall turn waiting
Colorado River water in Arizona is running warm and stable heading into fall, with monitored sites reading 71°F, 70°F, and 71°F over the past day. Flow at the upstream site sits near 10,000 cfs, a healthy late-September volume that keeps the river fishable end to end. Under this week's Full Moon, that combination points to a river still holding late-summer character rather than the sharp cool-down anglers watch for this time of year.
Coosa and Tennessee River Systems Ease Into Fall Bass Mode
USGS gauges across the Coosa and Tennessee river systems are reading 67-69°F with flows holding low and stable, from 3.64 cfs at gauge 02338523 up to 845 cfs at gauge 02339500 downstream. That combination, cooling water on a settled baseflow, is the classic early-fall signature anglers watch for. Wired 2 Fish's seasonal breakdown of bass timing notes that as water sheds summer heat, feeding windows concentrate around dawn and dusk rather than staying spread through the day, and Tactical Bassin's early-fall coverage this week points to jerkbaits and chatterbaits connecting with bass keyed on baitfish movement.
Champlain smallmouth stage for the fall turnover under a full moon
The USGS gauge on the Winooski River near Lake Champlain logged 63°F overnight into Sunday morning, a reading that sits right at the threshold where Champlain smallmouth begin sliding off summer main-lake flats toward deeper rock and drop-off structure. Tonight's full moon adds an extra low-light feeding window on top of the standard dawn and dusk pushes, so the next 24 hours carry more active-feeding potential than a typical late-September night.
WV rivers cool into prime fall smallmouth and brown trout window
USGS gauge 03054500 is running 2,670 cfs with water at 62°F, and gauge 03069500 sits cooler at 1,520 cfs and 58°F. Both readings mark the fall temperature slide moving through the region's free-flowing water. Field & Stream's fall live-bait rig roundup this week points anglers toward a rubber-band-rigged crayfish for "finicky smallmouths" and a bottom-bouncing minnow rig on a barrel swivel for "big fall browns," both keyed to exactly this kind of cooling water. Tactical Bassin and Fishing the Midwest independently note bass shifting onto baitfish as water cools, reinforcing the same pattern.
Full moon low-light windows shape fall shift on Guntersville, Wheeler
A USGS gauge on the system logged 68°F water and 277 cfs of flow Friday night, with a second tributary gauge holding at 124 cfs — solid, stable numbers for late September on the Guntersville and Wheeler stretch. Lake Guntersville hosted a weigh-in for the Abu Garcia High School Fishing tournament this week, per MLF News, a sign the fishery is holding up as water starts its seasonal cool-down. Fishing the Midwest's fall reporting points anglers toward lingering green weed edges as temperatures drop, since baitfish and gamefish push out of dying cover toward whatever still holds oxygen.
Flathead system browns turn aggressive as fall cooldown sets in
The Flathead system gauge (USGS 12372000) logged 7,160 cfs and 62°F Friday evening, a reading that lines up with the fall temperature slide pushing trout out of their summer holding patterns. Field & Stream's fall live-bait roundup, timed to this exact window, recommends a bottom-bouncing minnow rig on a barrel swivel to keep bait in the strike zone as big browns turn more aggressive with the cooldown — a technique worth carrying into Flathead and Bitterroot water right now.
Snake & Salmon steelhead run at record lows as water cools into fall
USGS gauges across the Snake and Salmon system are reading 56 to 62°F this week, with the larger reaches running 3,200-3,280 cfs and the smaller water down at 1,350 cfs, a clean fall thermal split across the basin. The headline for anyone targeting steelhead is sobering: per Hatch Magazine, this year's Columbia and Snake River steelhead run is on pace to be the smallest ever recorded, with just over 52,000 fish tallied above Bonneville Dam since counting began July 1. That run has been building slowly all summer and remains well off historical pace, so steelhead water that would normally be turning on with the first real cool-down is still fishing slow this week.
Iowa River runs high as fall walleye and bass staging begins
USGS gauge 05465500 on the Iowa River is reading well above typical levels for late September, a sign of high water working through the system under this week's Full Moon. That kind of flow pushes baitfish and gamefish out of exposed flats and into current breaks, wing dams, and back-eddies where the push is broken up. Fishing the Midwest's Mike Frisch notes that as fall progresses, walleyes shift onto classic bottom-structure presentations like the plain-rig nightcrawler snell he leans on through the cooling water. Smallmouth bass appear to be following the same seasonal cue: Field & Stream's fall live-bait roundup points anglers toward a weightless crayfish rig for finicky smallmouths, and Wired 2 Fish notes that as mornings turn consistently cooler, bass increasingly stage on deeper structure, the same shift expected on the Iowa and Des Moines systems as the pattern arrives here.
Fall Transition Puts Walleye and Browns on the Bite in Vermont
USGS gauge 01135100 in the Lake Champlain basin has essentially gone dry at 0.04 cfs with water sitting at 54°F, and a nearby gauge (01135300) is barely moving at 3.8 cfs — a sign of how low area tributaries have dropped heading into fall. The Connecticut River watershed gauge (01129500) tells a different story, running at 385 cfs and 61°F, still carrying enough volume to hold fish through the day. Field & Stream's fall live-bait rig roundup points anglers toward bottom-bouncing minnow rigs for big browns and rubber-band-rigged crayfish for finicky smallmouth as both species key on baitfish in cooling water, while Fishing the Midwest's Mike Frisch calls out the 'plain rig,' a bottom-bouncer snell tipped with a nightcrawler, as his go-to for walleye once water temperatures start easing back.
Cumberland tailwater stays cold as upper-basin creeks run thin
The Cumberland River tailwater below the dam is holding steady at 59°F this morning per USGS gauge 03414002, the cold, dam-released water this fishery depends on through early fall. Upstream in the broader basin, conditions look different: gauges 03409500 and 03408500 show water in the upper 60s to low 70s (69°F and 72°F) on light flows of 39.2 and 29.1 cfs, and a smaller feeder at gauge 03413200 is down to just 2.8 cfs. That split, a cold, stable tailwater against warm, thin upper-basin water, is the standard late-September signature here after a dry stretch with no recent flow pulse.
Fall transition dials in smallmouth, walleye on TN River chain
Tributary gauges feeding the Chickamauga and Watts Bar pools show typical early-fall variability this week: one site running 277 cfs at 68°F, a second reading near 72°F, and a third down to a bare trickle under 5 cfs. That kind of thin, stable flow usually means clearer water and baitfish pushed shallow, which lines up with what Field & Stream is flagging for fall smallmouth right now, a weightless, rubber-band-rigged crayfish fished for a natural presentation to finicky fish. Fishing the Midwest is leaning on its cooler-water walleye standby, a bottom-bouncer and nightcrawler plain rig, as tributary temps ease toward the 60s.
Mille Lacs walleyes eye the fall shallow-water shift
Flow at the Mille Lacs-area USGS gauge has essentially flattened out, the kind of late-September lull typical of area lake systems settling into the fall pattern. Fishing the Midwest's Mike Frisch flags this exact window as prime time for walleyes to shift off deep summer structure toward the last living, green weed edges as dying vegetation pushes baitfish and the walleyes chasing them shallower. A similar transition is already showing up to the east: on the Michigan Sportsman Forum, a night troller working shallow water near Algonac put four walleyes in the boat on shallow-running crankbaits, the same after-dark shallow pattern Frisch describes taking hold this time of year.
Fall turnover puts Winnipesaukee bass and walleye on the move
Lake Winnipesaukee is deep into its fall turnover window, with USGS gauge 01081000 on the Winnipesaukee River holding a steady late-September outflow. Cooling surface water is nudging fish off summer haunts and onto structure and dying weed edges, the same shift Fishing the Midwest describes for this time of year, when baitfish and gamefish abandon fading weed beds for the green ones still holding oxygen. Wired 2 Fish's seasonal timing guide points anglers toward the low-light hours around dawn and dusk as bass shift into active-hunting mode, and Field & Stream's fall rig roundup backs that up with presentation advice built specifically for this cooling-water period.
East Texas reservoirs cling to summer warmth ahead of fall turnover
Sabine River gauges feeding the Toledo Bend and Sam Rayburn system are still running warm, with USGS readings of 87°F at gauge 08017044, 86°F at gauge 08017118, and 84°F downstream at gauge 08017095, while flow at the Ruliff-area gauge (08030500) holds near 2,260 cfs. Lake Fork Trophy Bass's September report notes fish beginning to shift into fall feeding patterns as the season's heat wave finally breaks, with the annual Sealy Big Bass Splash tournament also drawing attention this month. Tactical Bassin's early-fall content backs that timing, pointing anglers toward baitfish-focused presentations as water starts to cool.
Upper Mississippi walleye bite shifts as fall flow holds strong
USGS gauge 05420500 near Clinton logged 42,400 cfs and a 66°F water temperature Saturday night, numbers that place the Clinton-Dubuque pools in the heart of the early-fall transition. Fishing the Midwest's Mike Frisch reports that as remaining weed growth dies back this time of year, baitfish and the gamefish chasing them shift out of thinning summer beds toward whatever green vegetation is still holding oxygen and cover. A mid-60s reading like this one signals that relocation is underway.
KY tributaries settle into fall pattern as bass, walleye turn on
USGS gauges across the region's tributaries are running low and clear, from 0.84 cfs at gauge 03297800 (67°F) to 1.61 cfs at 03302050 (68°F), with the warmest reading at 77°F on gauge 03302058 and a larger tributary at gauge 03301500 pushing 40 cfs. That spread of low, stable flow with only one warmer creek fits the early-fall transition anglers elsewhere are already leaning into: Tactical Bassin reports fall bass keying hard on baitfish as water cools, with fish pushing shallow to feed. Fishing the Midwest notes fall is prime time to dust off traditional walleye presentations, jigging live bait or pulling crankbaits, as water temperatures ease off summer highs.